LEE — The “mother” of all N.H. breast cancer advocacy groups spawned seedlings of other state advocacy groups, which grew into flourishing bushes – of pink flowers of course.Founded in 1992, the New Hampshire Breast Cancer Coalition (NHBCC) had four goals in mind, supporting funding for research on causes, treatments and cures; improving access to quality diagnosis and treatment for all women; improving education and accessibility to information to all people; and to empower N.H. women and their supporters to become involved in breast cancer as a matter of public policy.And, they have done just that with help of Chair Nancy Ryan.Luckily, the commute to the NHBCC is a short one for Nancy, as the office for the statewide nonprofit organization is in the spare bedroom of her Lee home.“We couldn't fathom using the money for an office rental when it could be going toward breast cancer research,” she says.Daily, she takes phone calls from women who are looking for information, works with individuals and organizations who want to do fundraising, and most importantly converses with the national coalition on their most recent initiative.The National Breast Cancer Coalition is striving for Breast Cancer Deadline 2020, a comprehensive, strategic and bold initiative to end breast cancer by January 1, 2020.“A good deal of my time involves speaking with congressmen and women, so a lot of my time is spent with the grass roots legislative parts of helping the deadline,” explains Nancy.What makes the NHBCC different from other “pink ribbon” organizations around the state, she says, is they work from both ends – working on legislation for research to end breast cancer and also helping women who have breast cancer right now.“(The NHBCC) may not have happened if I hadn't been diagnosed with breast cancer,” says Nancy.After several doctors telling her she was “too young” to have breast cancer, and showing what looked like clean mammograms, Nancy noticed a visible abnormality in the skin on her breast.“The skin was starting to pull inward on my left breast. So, I went back to the surgeon and he said we should do a biopsy. So, we did, and it came out as breast cancer – though my mammogram looked normal,” she explains.By the time Nancy went in for surgery, the tumor was very large and had already spread to eight of her body's lymph nodes, escaping the breast. Two years after her diagnosis, in the late 1991, Nancy was compelled to learn as much as she possibly could about breast cancer. She decided to go to a conference in Chicago to feed her eager mind. While walking around the vendor room, she met a woman gathering signatures for a petition to congress to increase federal funding for breast cancer research. She says this was the first evidence of the national breast cancer coalition. Nancy spoke with the woman, and told her she would he happy to help her get more signatures.“My goal was 850 signatures in N.H. So, I told her I'd do the best I could and I wound up getting over 4,000 signatures in three months,” says Nancy of N.H. residents' enthusiasm, “I shipped it to Washington, D.C. as part of the national effort.”The founding members of the NHBCC, Nancy and Joanne Dodge (the mother of Wendy McCoole, the founder of BreastCancerStories.org and My Breast Cancer Support) met at a support group in Dover in 1989 – one of very few support groups at the time – and wound up facilitating it together. After a couple of years, the pair decided to do more. The NHBCC began with providing many services to N.H. women who have exhausted all other means of financial assistance.“We've gotten calls from women who were literally standing at the phone with utility cut-off notices in their hands,” Nancy says.According to the coalition, in this year in N.H., the estimated number of new diagnoses is 1,482; more than two people a day. Nancy says, this includes both invasive breast cancer and what is called DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma in Situ), where the cells have taken on abnormal characteristics but are not yet developed to the capacity of invasive.“To me it was a no-brainer (to help DCIS patients), they go through the biopsy, they go through the diagnosis, emotion, upheaval, and treatment which is not trivial. It can include some of the same treatments, like surgery, radiation and hormonal treatments,” says Nancy on some controversy between breast cancer groups helping DCIS patients. As a self-proclaimed “old timer” in the breast cancer movement, Nancy has seen many changes occur.For example, in the early years, the NHBCC had a project where they provided goodie bags full of comforting items to those who were newly diagnosed all across the state. Eventually, they didn't need to anymore because the hospitals, and My Breast Cancer Support, began to do the same thing. This allowed them to put their funds into other endeavors.Now, though still providing financial and personal assistance to patients, the National Breast Cancer Coalition and NHBCC focus much of their time and efforts toward The Breast Cancer Deadline 2020. This movement calls for action by policy makers, educated advocates, legislators, researchers and scientists to end breast cancer by January 1, 2020. They say this renews the sense of urgency about the breast cancer problem and calls stakeholders to focus new scientific knowledge about the biology, etiology and genetics of breast cancer on prevention and preventing metastasis.Nancy says, “Twenty years ago, 114 U.S. women died of breast cancer every day. Today, that number is about 110 – which is good, but not good enough. At that rate it could take hundreds of years to end breast cancer.”Now, a trained leader in advocacy and development, Nancy can rattle off statistics, genetics, legislation and the science behind breast cancer as second nature.“My personal story was a key factor in my passion to learn more about breast cancer,” she says, “because my story didn't fit the public message, and it still doesn't. The public message is to see a doctor regularly, get mammograms, and do self-exams – but that's not enough. We want to go farther than that. We want to end breast cancer.”To donate to the N.H. Breast Cancer Coalition visit, Nhbcc.org/donate.html or if you prefer to make your donation by check, please make donations payable to the New Hampshire Breast Cancer Coalition and mail to: NHBCC, 18 Belle Lane, Lee, N.H. 03861-6438.